Sea Salt Confession
by eldestmiddle
Summary: Riku takes things too seriously, even at the tender age of twelve. RikuSora
1. 75 munny worth

**Sea Salt Confession**

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One bright summer day, Selphie invited all of her friends for sea salt ice cream then bullied Tidus into paying. When asked for a valid reason, she said that she still owed Wakka a favor, Sora had spent the last of his allowance buying them ice cream _last_ time, and Riku… At this point, she broke off and huddled with Kairi, giggling and shooting glances at Riku. Tidus found this unfair but forked over 75 munny plus tax.

They had all grown. The girls were starting to notice the guys, especially Riku. They quietly vied for his attention as young girls do but faced a pressing problem. There was only one Riku and two girls. Neither wanted to share. The next obvious choice was Sora, since he was more visually and emotionally appealing than Tidus or Wakka. On that sunny day, licking their ice cream together at the beach, Selphie popped the vital question.

"Sora…" here, she hesitated a bit, "Who do you like best? … in this group, that is," she added hastily, not wanting to hear _"__Olette__!" _or some other girl at school. Everyone turned to Sora, waiting for his answer.

Sora pondered this seriously for all of two seconds before announcing with a smile,

_"__Riku__!"_

Riku choked on his ice cream stick while the rest stared at Sora in disbelief. After a stunned pause, Kairi started to giggle, which started the Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus off. Who were they kidding? This was _Sora_. He hadn't hit puberty yet, let alone thought about girls that way. Sora stared at his laughing friends for a while then joined in the laughter even though he didn't realize the reason for it. Only Riku didn't laugh. He took those words seriously, held them in his twelve-year-old heart, and waited.


	2. Still Waiting

**Still Waiting**

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Sadly, Riku had quite a while to wait.

Right about eighth grade, everyone split up a bit. They were technically all still "together" but they all paired off. Selphie became best friends with Wakka because he was the only one who could tolerate her ranting for an extended amount of time and Sora… best friended with Kairi so Riku was left with Tidus. Riku told himself he didn't mind. Never date your best friend and all that. He had no intention of dating his "best friend". Neither did Sora.

He dated Selphie.

Riku promptly dropped all connections when he heard the news and went into self-exile in Sora's treehouse until Tidus fetched his mom. Later, he denied it all but when she did come, he ran down the rope ladder, threw himself into his mother's arms, and bawled his fourteen year old heart out. Sora didn't come because he was at Wonderland, the local amusement park, with Selphie.

Of course, by now, Tidus had the uneasy feeling that Riku traveled the far end of the popsicle, which didn't really make sense but he didn't care. He took Riku aside and tried to make him solemnly swear not to hit on him.

Riku bit him out of pure spite.

After a lot of reassurance that it wasn't some sort of kinky flirting, Riku told Tidus that he wasn't all that attractive and not to flatter himself. Tidus was torn between relieved and insulted. He settled for slightly grossed out and just accepted it.

Surprisingly, Tidus was a pretty good listener. He sat still, made the appropriate noises at all the right times, and bought Riku paopu-flavored candies when he got depressed. It must come from having three sisters, all older than him.

When Riku wasn't crying moping, Tidus was much less sensitive and did whatever he wanted while dragging Riku around. Tidus's ideas usually led to troubling and embarrassing situations but Tidus did have his uses. For instance…

Riku remembers that the happiest day of his life was when that Selphie left Sora for Tidus.

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AN: I have really got to start meaning it when I say "oneshot".


	3. The Wonderland Fiasco

**The Wonderland Fiasco**

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Sora retreated to the tender care of Wakka.

Riku felt slightly infuriated that he was forgotten. Tidus was no longer an option to hang around because he was now always with Selphie and Selphie liked having _alone_ time with her boyfriend. Kairi was now Selphie's confidant (_Bitch, _Riku thought to himself) so Riku wandered the island alone.

Then Kairi asked him out on a date and RIku said yes.

It was supposed to be a double date with Selphie and Tidus because that was the only way they could get away from Selphie's parents but once they all got to Wonderland, _POOF_ and Selphie had dragged Tidus away to be _alone_. Now, this left Riku and Kairi alone together which was probably what the girls wanted in the first place.

Riku was stunned of his own naiveté.

Kairi tried to take his hand but he just pulled away and glared at her. Kairi looked at him, exasperated, and led him to an ice cream parlor. As he savagely ripped apart the waffle cone pieces in his sundae, Kairi decided to try and initiate a conversation.

"So, how do you feel about Tidus and Selphie dating?"

Riku viciously stabbed his ice cream.

"How do you feel about… us?"

He paused and gave her the most contemptuous look he could muster while taking a bite of the sundae.

Kairi reddened and ducked her head to examine her banana split. Riku was pretty satisfied that any conversation that could've been was at an end when Kairi divulged an important piece of information.

"Selphie only broke up with Sora because she thought he was gay."

Riku's head snapped up so fast he thought he heard his neck crack. Kairi watched him through narrowed eyes and continued.

"She liked him a lot but she was really bothered by what he said in sixth grade about liking you."

A warm smug feeling was starting to spread through his stomach and he couldn't stop himself from smiling. Kairi smiled maliciously and said,

"She thinks he's dating Wakka."

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AN: I think that Wakka would make a nice boyfriend... or at least, an interesting one with all that color.

Genesis 3:6


	4. Thoughts in Shrubbery

**Thoughts in Shrubbery**

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Wakka was a jock. Blitzball was his life and he didn't really care about his school grades. But dumb, he was not.

So when he saw Riku charging towards him one summer Wednesday, he took one look at Riku's face and _ran_. He was quite aware how ridiculous he looked running away from a guy a head shorter and about fifteen pounds lighter.

He didn't care.

He saw that look before only on Kairi's face after he innocently asked her how she had gained five pounds so fast. He didn't mean to. He was bulking up his too-thin adolescent body at the time he fatally, correctly assessed Kairi's gained weight.

Wakka spent the rest of the morning skulking around the park, avoiding Riku. He figured that he would talk this over with the others tomorrow to find out why Riku was so mad at him, _if_ he survived.

Wakka's cover was blown while he was hiding behind a rhododendron bush right beside the bench Riku sat, sulking. Sora, oblivious to the tension and fear in the air, walked up behind Wakka and yelled in his ear, "HEY, WAKKA! I haven't seen you ALL DAY! Why are you spying on Riku?!"

Wakka nearly shitted himself out of pure fear. He looked up beyond Sora's smiling face and saw Riku's glower. He wanted to die.

Riku tried to smile. There were a lot of teeth but nothing friendly. He reached for the orange-haired blitzball fanatic but was eluded.

"Wakka, there you are. I think we need to talk."

Wakka nearly prostrated himself on the ground in gratitude when he heard Sora explain to Riku that Wakka had promised to take him to the beach and eat ice cream together.

As Wakka was led away by hand to the train station, he looked back at Riku and was struck by how dejected he looked.

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AN: This one was certainly all about Wakka. I'm putting some AkuRoku and more of Wakka's thoughts in the next chapter.


	5. Twilight Queer

**Twilight Queer****s**

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Wakka thought long and hard about how Riku had been acting. He thought about it while Sora brought tickets at the station and while they boarded the train and while Sora jabbered on about ice cream and kept thinking about it right up until the train made a stop at Twilight Town. At the Twilight Town train station, a blonde about Sora's age and a redhead, a bit older, boarded the train.

They were gay.

They were also obviously together. The blonde thought that he was being really slick about it. He ignored his companion, kicked him when he was spoken to, and only talked to Sora. If he really didn't like firetop, he would've gotten rid of him by now. The redhead didn't care about being slick. He flirted outrageously with the blonde, made grabs for him in inappropriate places, and intimidated Sora almost to tears. At this point, Wakka leaned over and tugged Sora towards him and drawled, "Pick on someone your own size. This kid's about two heads smaller than you." The blonde, Roxas, immediately kicked his boyfriend in the shins. Again.

Wakka wondered, later on, how his nice trip with a friend to the beach turned into a date immediately as they walked on the white sands of the beach.

Roxas and his boyfriend, Idiot, decided that a trip to the beach sounded better than going to the Traverse Town shopping district. Roxas and Sora also decided that pretzels sounded better than ice cream. Roxas grabbed Idiot's arm and Sora followed the behavioral patterns of a lemming and grabbed Wakka's arm. Together, they dragged the taller boys to a small stand and bullied them into buying pretzels. They strolled along the beach and gathered a lot of comments about the two "cute" boys and their "weird" boyfriends. Wakka fervently hoped he was one of the cute ones but doubted it.

Wakka and Idiot had a nice drawn out conversation comprised of the weather, the pretzels, and Neanderthal-like grunts. Roxas and Sora had short bursts of conversation (with topics ranging from favorite types of Heartless to gobal warming) and energy (during which they gathered shells and dug for crabs). By the end of the day, Wakka had the vaguely disgruntled feeling that he had gotten the short end of the stick. Idiot didn't look much better.

As Sora hugged Roxas a tearful good-bye at the train station and promised to stay in touch, Wakka watched Idiot and saw his face contort into a desolate grimace. Or a pout. Either way, it reminded Wakka of RIku's face and he winced. Wakka walked over to Idiot to say his own good-bye and was told that Idiot's _real_ name was "Axel, got it memorized?"

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AN: Okay, in case of confusion, Wakka called Axel Idiot not because Wakka was a dumb but because that's all Roxas called him and Axel never really got around to introducing himself before. Let this be a lesson to males to communicate more.


	6. Squeaky Wheel

**Squeaky Wheel**

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Tidus was getting a little tired of Selphie. Sure, he liked her and all but she was so _energetic_. He could see how she and Sora were so compatible in the first place. They never seemed to wind down.

Well, he had finally escaped her grasping hands for a little while and he intended to enjoy the day with Riku. It had been a while since he met Riku to hang out. RIku had been moping a lot more lately and Tidus was getting worried. He decided that a nice walk around to their favorite spots would help Riku out.

He was wrong.

When they got to Paopu Island, Sora was there. With him were Wakka, a blonde, and a redhead. Riku looked wretched but hovered around, unwilling to leave yet hating to stay. Tidus vaguely remembered the redhead from one of Wakka's blitzball games and waved him over, wanting to take RIku's mind off Sora.

"Hey! Axel! Remember me from the Twilight-Destiny game?"

Tidus underwent some intense scrutiny before receiving an answer.

"Yeah, you're the guy I landed on when I jumped off the bleachers."

Axel came over with a friendly smile and thumped Tidus on the back. Tidus caught himself from falling over and introduced Riku before asking, "What are you doing here?"

Axel gestured toward three boys laughing in the sands. "I came with Roxas," he explained, "It wasn't my idea." Riku snuck another moody glance towards Sora and Tidus stopped himself from sighing. He tried to steer the conversation towards the Twilight bleacher-jumper.

"I didn't know you knew any Destiny people besides me."

"I didn't until about two days ago," Axel jerked a thumb over his back, "I was on a date with Roxas when he connected with Sora while _he_ was on a date with Blitzboy."

Tidus watched Riku's face and wished he could just kill himself.

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AN: Yaaah, poor Tidus. He was really choking around that foot in his mouth.


	7. Riku's Moogle

**Riku's****Moogle**

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Roxas didn't like Riku. He didn't use the word hate very lightly, so he could safely say he _hated_ Riku. At first sight.

Something about that arrogant stance and that… that superiority complex he seemed to have really ticked him off. Also, he looked at Roxas like he stole the guy's moogle.

Or the guy's boyfriend.

He took a sadistic pleasure in hanging out with Sora as much as possible and watching Riku's face light up with envy. Whenever guilt smacked him in the ass, he tried to shrug it off, telling himself that Sora was Wakka's boyfriend. It was just too bad for Riku that it was that way.

It wasn't all just to make Riku mad, Roxas liked Sora. He was a bit spastic at times but he was essentially a sweet guy with good intentions. He was like a moogle without the pompom. He also awoke the same feelings of adoration and protectiveness in Roxas that a moogle did. Axel had caught him thinking aloud that Sora was really cute one time and nearly did Sora's face over with his chakram.

Speaking of which, Roxas was walking down the hallway, past the creepy security guard, up the escalator, and to the fourth door on the left to visit Axel in the hospital. Sora was already there, looking concerned.

Riku was there too.

Roxas crushed the doorknob as he stared at the smug face and wished for once that Sora was somewhere else so that he could attack Riku with Axel's chakram. He forced a smile and said, "Hey, Riku. Nice of you to visit."

Riku smiled back. "Yeah, I was worried," he said, insincerely, "But I'm mainly here to just escort Sora."

The air between them was frigid and Roxas could faintly hear Axel asking for some caring since he was right there. Roxas ignored him.

"Where's Wakka?" He asked in a pseudo-polite voice.

"Blitzball game, Atlantica versus Destiny." Riku's face looked like it was starting to ache.

"I should go there, in fact."

Roxas and Riku blinked at Sora who had been pretty quiet up until then. He raised his eyebrows and repeated, "I should get going to Wakka's game." Riku nodded and started to get up. Roxas nearly turned himself inside out trying to stop Sora.

"I-I'll go with-… Wakka…" Roxas babbled as he tried to squeeze himself out the doorway with Sora.

"Stay."

Sora looked at him with a slight smile. Roxas blinked in confusion. "Stay with Axel, he needs a lot of love right now." With that, Sora shoved him into Axel's eager arms and waved himself out with Riku.

Roxas wanted to scream. He struggled with Axel and tried to reach the panic button

"Axel, let go of me. I need to save Sora from that warped pervert."

"You like him."

Roxas stopped himself from screaming "_Of __**course**__!"_ and really looked at Axel. He looked pathetic, wrapped up in enough bandages to cover Castle Oblivion, and accusing.

"You _like_ him."

The voice was smaller this time and promised tears. Roxas sighed.

"I like _you_," he corrected.

Roxas leaned over and kissed Axel just above his downcast right eye. He stared into Axel's hopeful face and inwardly admitted that he might've neglected Axel a smidge and rearranged his priorities. Comfort insecure boyfriend, go on a date, _then_ remove Riku's schwang from his person.

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AN: It might seem that Roxas is a touch too obsessed with Sora but, you know how it is when you _just_ acquired a new best friend and you spend the next month or so totally wrapped up in the person? Yeah, Roxas will ease up after a while but he'll always hate Riku. smile It isn't jealousy. Notice that he's perfectly fine with the idea that Sora's with Wakka.


End file.
